lol nickel silver, and nickel plated... what are they trying to prove? I was going to say nickel is hard to work with, but so is brass... it would be fun to have silver key guards and rods with this horn. I should get into sax augmentation someday... maybe when my rolling mill and shears come in. grrr!

The Shadows are 3967.00 from wwbw. And they have low prices. You just have to know where to look. Sometimes there are a lot of them out there and at other times there are only a few. brassandwoodwind.ca/CoufSuperbaAlto.html They show up on eBay quite often with good prices. The one at the second link is GORGEOUS!! I love the engraving pattern on the Couf Superbas. It's radically different from everybody else's style, but looks really cool.

For the second site, just type out the url. I tried it after I posted and I got an error message, but when i typed it in, it went to the page. That one's only 2100 US.

That sax is beeeaautiful! It's the price that scares me though, because its ebay and the price is high, my mom won't trust as easily. I love the fact that this seller has 100% positive feedback. I checked out another auction of their's about a Martin alto. Do you think the price on that will sky rocket in the last couple of hours?

I doubt the price will skyrocket. It might go up a couple hundred, but it almost definitely won't go over 2000. That is actually quite a low price. That martin is GORGEOUS!!! If you can't afford the Shadow or the Superba, the Martins are awesome!! They're similar as far as tone goes, but different. You know what i mean.

the Shadow is one of the most beautiful saxophones on the market. Not only does it look beautiful, it sounds amazing! They are a little pricey, but compared to Selmer Reference Series horns, I really don't think they're out of line. The Shadows blow the Selmers away in my opinion. Jim

You should hang onto that C Melody West. They're nice for some things, and the Conn's are getting harder to come by. I think if you sell it, you might regret it. Jim

Play tested my nickel silver SX90R along side a buddy's Couf Superba 1 last night. The Couf is certainly a warmer sound due to it's heavier brass body construction (as a standard SX90 brass horn would), but the modern SX key mechanisms are extremely well designed and fit nice and tightly - (not that older horns can't be swedged and such to feel as good...) Also noted whas the slightly smaller bore of the S1 at the neck - couldn't swap necks :( Superba 1's are really fantastic - nothing to shy away from in any regard, but I do like the tight, snappy fit and feel of my new SX. The brightness of the NiAg horn allows you to really punch through if contemporary jazz/rock is your leaning. I don't know if a Shadow plays any darker than the standard nickel, but this horn is about as bright as I think a saxophone should be allowed to be. My buddy says that it reminded him of his Cannonball he once had, and I would concur based on what I remember from having played it. Played the nickel tenor with a Ponzol M2+ at an outdoor big band gig a couple nights ago, and even without a shell or individual mic, my solos could be heard without a problem. Tonight will be my first pass at finding out if I can blend into a legit ensmble with the nickel horn. Of course, I'll use a different set-up to tone things down...

Tell me how it turns out.

The SX90R NiAg fared well for legit last night. The more demanding requirements of intonation and pianissimo response were met without incident. I played on a Couf 6*R Special with an M or MH Fibracell (can't remember which - probably the MH). For more subdued passages, I was able to produce a steady, warm tone that was distinctively "tenor saxophon-ish", but still blended well with the euphoniums. For technical runs, the response and action were quick and accurate. For marches and more upbeat stuff, the horn responded quickly to accents and backed off as soon as I "asked it to". (Some horns have too high a threshold and are hard to control once the sound is coming out). I attribute this mostly to my obsessive/compulsive perfection of pad sealing. My leak light is rarely cool to the touch... Ok - I'm not quite THAT bad about it. But this horn really has home court advantage on the swingy/jazzy stuff. It's tone leads the section. If I were in a smaller legit ensemble (we're 65-80 strong depending on the weather - www.nocb.org) one might find the horn's tone a little bright and conspicuous if they are not restrained or using an appropriate set-up, but it's nothing that good control and maybe a bell mute can't subdue, if necessary. There certainly is something to playing a heavy brass tenor in terms of shaping the sound, so if you desire a REALLY dark setup (without using mutes and such), stick with a Couf Superba 1 or traditional brass SX. I can see where I might need to have two tenors for personal use, but if I had to pick just one (stranded on a desert island sort of thing...), it would probably be the NiAg SX.

Sounds like everything went good.